CAA: GA News, "Rural Louisiana airports grow to handle traffic"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@cwnet.com>]

Tuesday, May 9, 2000

Rural airports grow to handle traffic
Tourism, economic development behind move to expand services
By Vickie Welborn
Shreveport (LA) Times


MANSFIELD -- Most Friday afternoons will find Dr. Henry Payne making a dash
from his surgeon duties at DeSoto Regional Health System to the DeSoto
Parish Airport, where he hops in his single-engine Super Viking, then flies
to Monroe where family awaits.

The availability of an airport just four miles out of town was a factor in
Payne’s decision seven months ago to relocate his general surgery practice
from El Paso, Texas, to DeSoto Regional.

"I wanted to be in a small community instead of a big one. Monroe was a
little too big, but I wanted to be near a bigger city like Shreveport,"
Payne said. The weekly flight from Mansfield to Monroe takes just 30
minutes.

Payne is looking forward to the completion of a seven-section T-hangar,
currently under construction at the DeSoto Parish Airport. For now, Payne’s
plane, as well as a few others, must jockey for position inside a crowded
maintenance hangar when bad weather threatens.

DeSoto Parish Airport is not the only general aviation airport in the region
seeing more activity. Area airport managers say tourism and continued
economic development are contributing to the increased traffic counts. To
keep up, airports in Many, Natchitoches and Ruston are in the midst of
improvement projects.

For the most part, these parish- or city-maintained airports are not
money-making operations. Monthly revenue is generated through fuel sales,
hangar rentals and tie-down fees.

"Month to month it varies, but it’s not a great deal of revenue," DeSoto
Parish Airport manager Dave Dagenais said. On a good month revenue can be as
much as $4,000, he said, but that isn’t the norm. DeSoto’s seven-section
T-hangar is expected to spur new interest in the 1,100-acre airport, which
was built in 1942 for $39,991 as an auxiliary training field for Barksdale
Air Force Base. Dagenais said the more planes that can be accommodated, the
more traffic the airport will generate.

"With more flying into the airport, the more fuel we will sell ... and that
could lead to (pilots and their passengers) staying longer and possibly
going into town to buy things," Dagenais said.

The airport usually logs about 60 operations -- takeoffs and landings -- per
month.

Natchitoches Regional Airport Manager Bob Koll said airports generally don’t
compete for a pilot’s business. Most private pilots will select an airstrip
because of its convenience.

Natchitoches Regional has a higher traffic count than DeSoto Parish Airport,
with 300 to 400 operations per month. Natchitoches Regional generates from
$24,000 to $26,000 annually through rentals, said Randy LaCaze, airport
executive director. Those dedicated funds are funneled into capital
improvements. "Airports are a public expense, but the people who fly in
produce the revenue," said Gloria Holmes, manager of Hart Airport in Many.
"Airports produce the income for the community it serves. That’s where the
economic impact is. An airport will never pay for itself."

However, medium-sized cities without airports are handicapped when it comes
to enticing business prospects, Mansfield businessman and pilot Riemer
Calhoun Jr. said.

Calhoun depends on his plane for quick transportation when negotiating or
developing construction- or management-related projects.

"I fly into medium-sized airports all over the South. For this size we
probably got the best one I’ve flown in," Calhoun said. "If we fail to
support the airport, we will be left with a ghost town. (The DeSoto Airport)
is a gateway to the parish. When these heavy-hitters fly into a ghost town,
what does that say about a town? What kind of message does that send to
business?"

Calhoun owns the single private hangar at DeSoto’s airport. He’s supportive
of the construction currently under way to build more. And hangars, terminal
buildings, runway extensions and lighting are on the drawing board or wish
list of other airports elsewhere in the region.

Rusty Williams, a businessman and former pilot who now heads up the DeSoto
Airport Commission, is optimistic the four-laning of U.S. 171, which fronts
the airport, will draw more pilots there.

"They could get here faster than they can get across Shreveport to the
downtown airport," Williams said. "The more airplanes we can get, the more
hangars we can ask for ... and the more we get, the more our priority for
funding increases."

Growth and improvements
Hart Airport (Many)

Construction is about to begin on a terminal building that will replace a
portable building. Some $87,000 in state funds will be used.

The 4,000-foot runway is enough to accommodate the average piston-generated
planes or small jets. Airport manager Gloria Holmes estimates Hart Airport
handles 8,000 to 9,000 operations annually.

Natchitoches Regional

Renovation of the terminal building has been completed. Airport manager Bob
Koll is waiting on word -- which could come before year’s end -- of funding
for another $2 million in improvements including taxiway extensions,
lighting, connector taxiways and apron overlay. The 4,075- and 5,003-foot
runways are strong enough to support the 15- to 19-passenger commuter planes
such as those flown by American Eagle.

Corporate jet service from Alliance Compressors, ConAgra, Willamette and
Wal-Mart have increased operations at the airport. Additional interest comes
from a student flight program at Northwestern State University.

Minden-Webster

Repair work is required for damage to a hangar and private aircraft caused
by recent tornadoes. The 5,000-foot runway was overlaid about a year ago.
With the exception of installing runway lighting, there are no other
projects on the burner.

Operations there are estimated at 100 to 125 a month.

Ruston Regional

At the city-owned airport, plans are under way to circle the 5-year-old
airfield with deer-proof fencing. Manager James Davison Jr. estimates the
cost at $100,000.

Relocation enabled the city to extend the runway to 5,000 feet.

Davison estimates operations at 100,000 annually, including usage by
Louisiana Tech students in training.

DeSoto Parish Airport

Money for the seven-section T-hangar construction, estimated at $170,000, is
being funded through a grant, loan and Police Jury allocation. State funds
last year paid for a new, more powerful beacon, larger windsock and radio
system. Manager Dave Dagenais is waiting on word of a request for $1.5
million to improve the apron parking area, repair the airport access roads
and install a new lighting system on the DeSoto airstrip.

"All of it enhances us being able to operate the airport more safely,"
Dagenais said.

Attached Photo: Dr. Henry Payne prepares for a flight out of the DeSoto
Parish Airport. Increased traffic has several area airports expanding.

desoto.jpg